James Bond Stage 2: From Russia with Love

From Russia With Love continues Sean Connery’s fame as arguably the best James Bond of the series. It is also one of Connery’s favorite bond films, one which introduces secret agent gadgets with Desmond Llewelyn as the “Q” we all know and love. We also see the well known numbering system of villains, a bald villain with a cat, and a bond girl with a non-sexual name. Make no mistake, these things make for an excellent bond movie.

Kronsteen, a chess grandmaster, and SPECTRE’s expert planner, has devised a plot to steal a LEKTOR coding device from the Russians and sell it back to them, and also punish MI6(the British Secret Service) for killing their agent Dr. No. Rosa Klebb, a Russian double-agent for SPECTRE and probably lesbian, is put in charge of the mission by the megalomaniac Blofeld. She has already chosen a female pawn: Tatiana Romanova, a cypher clerk at the Soviet consulate in Istanbul. Klebb departs to SPECTRE Island, the organization’s secret training base, and approves Red Grant as an assassin.

In London, Bond has bedded down, for the second movie, Sylvia Trench, until he is called away on agent business. M tells Bond that Romanova has contacted their operatives in Turkey, offering to defect with a LEKTOR, which MI6 and the CIA have been after for years. She has said that she will only defect to Bond. bond is suited up with a briefcase, containing hidden ammunition, throwing knives, a sniper rife with infra-red scope, fifty gold sovereigns, and tear gas to booby trap the suitcase. This would begin the gadgetry that becomes a staple for 007 movies.

What follows is the seductive secret agent tale of Britain and Russia, enemies and lovers at the same time, sometimes in Istanbul, sometimes with a gypsy camp, and sometimes on trains, boats, and beds.

Master Evil Plan:

Steal cryptographic device from the Russians in order to sell it back to them, and kill Bond while they’re at it. Not exactly world domination material, but no movie is perfect.

Share this:

Like this:

Related

About Author

Patrick began collecting a library of VHS tapes, DVDs, and CDs when he was young, and continues to build a library that could easily double as a video store and/or a revitalized Tower Records.
To make such a collection seem reasonable, Patrick has taken film theory classes, screenwriting workshops, and decided that the next step was to critique films for an audience.
Favorite movie genres: horror, dark comedy, noir
Favorite music genres: indie, electronica, post-punk, 80s
Favorite game genres: rpg, FPS, old school 8-bit glory